Air flow experiments in full scale test rooms.

Airflow inside air-conditioned rooms needs to be determined experimentally using test rooms. The test room dimensions vary because a test room must represent a section which is characteristic of the original room dimensions. The flow pattern is made visible; the velocities, and in some cases the gas concentration is measured. The experiments are done under thermal steady-state conditions. Some general results are:

• Comfort conditions can easily be realized up to thermal internal loads of 40W/m2.
• Gas concentration measurements show that linear ceiling diffusors produce anearly homogenous concentration over the height of the room
• Non-homogenous gas distributions are obtained by air outlets in the floor. These outlets show a reduction of air exchange of about 20% compared with ceiling-diffusors, as far as the concentration is concerned.